Google Maps Zooms In to See Your Pet

The web-based mapping tool powered by the super giant Google receives some new goodies although the company's officials didn't say a thing about the updates. In a post published today on the official blog of Google Maps and Google Earth, Chikai Ohazama, Product Manager, informs the fans of the two applications that a higher zoom is now available in the mapping utilities which obviously comes from more detailed photos included in them.

As I said, we didn't expect to see this but it looks like Google adopted a new strategy and updates the two services every once in a while. The Google official avoided mentioning which areas were updated but it stated that "you can zoom in even closer to areas all around the globe for a more-detailed view of all of the imagery in our database."

Remember that old Google Maps hack which allowed you to obtain higher zoom for certain regions by modifying a simple string in the URL? This new update is similar to that but you're no longer required to trick the web-based technology because the imagery is available to everyone.

Chikai Ohazama didn't mention whether Google Earth is also updated or not but it's very likely to be as the downloadable mapping solution provides almost the same functions as the web service. However, a higher zoom level wasn't included among the release notes of the last Google Earth release so it's a matter to be clarified by the Google officials.

In case you missed the news, Google Earth is one of the most updated technologies at the Googleplex as it received lots of goodies such as Sky, Flight Simulator and numerous imagery improvements. As usual, you can download the latest version of Google Earth straight from Softpedia using the following link.